Jomo Kenyatta

Jomo Kenyatta (1897-22 August 1978) was Prime Minister of Kenya from 1 June 1963 to 12 December 1964 and President from 12 December 1964 to 22 August 1978, preceding Daniel arap Moi. He was also chairman of KANU from 1961 to 1978.

Biography
Jomo Kenyatta was born in Gatundu, East Africa Protectorate, British Empire in 1897, a member of the Kikuyu people. Politically active since the early 1920s, he became general secretary of the Kikuyu General Association in 1924, and in 1929 went to London to press the Association's demands for greater African equality. During his time in England, he developed his political ideas. In 1945, he founded the Pan-African Federation with Kwame Nkrumah, whereupon the two became role models not only for their own respective countries, but for all Black African leaders. He returned to Kenya in 1946, but was arrested in 1952 for his alleged leadership of the Mau Mau Uprising. After the KANU won the 1961 elections in preparation for independence, he was released on 14 August 1961, and became KANU president. He became Prime Minister in 1963, and remained in this position after independence. On 12 December 1964, he became his country's first president. Against the left-wing of the party, he established a pro-Western economic policy and successfully attracted investment into the country. Through his immense status, integrity, pragmatism, and popularity, he was able to keep Kenya's forty or so different peoples united. His regime faced border conflicts with Somalia and an army mutiny in Nairobi, and he died in office in 1978.